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What other easy access accounts are there?

The Santander deal overtakes the Post Office Saver 5, which offers savers a 3.17 per cent rate, with a slightly less meaty bonus of 1.52 per cent for 12 months from account opening. After this period the rate reverts to its underlying rate, currently 1.65 per cent.

The Post Office deal overtook the 3.15 per cent Coventry BS deal two weeks ago – but the Coventry deal has since been pulled.

The next best rate in our tables comes from Dutch-owned bank ING Direct. It offers savers 3.15 per cent, but this also comes with a hefty 2.56 per cent bonus that drops off after a year.

The ‘cleanest’ instant access rate comes in the form of Sainsbury's eSaver Special, which offers a 2.7 per cent rate on balances over £1,000.

How This is Money predicted higher Santander savings rates last month

At the time, we said the Cahoot deal could be the first of a flurry of best buy deals that the banking giant would bring out to try and raise money from savers after its money market borrowing costs increased.

Last month, Moody’s downgraded Santander UK, alongside 16 Spanish banks while on Monday, Fitch also downgraded its Santander UK rating to 'A' from 'A+'. This will push up the cost of funding on the markets.

Customers have became worried that its Spanish parent Banco Santander is running into trouble. However, Santander UK is keen to stress that it is ‘completely autonomous’ from Banco Santander and not directly exposed to the struggling Spanish economy.

The subsidiary added it is not allowed to pay dividends or move any funds out of the bank without permission from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This means Banco Santander could not siphon off money from its healthier UK subsidiary.

Santander UK customers are covered under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which means savers are protected up to £85,000 if anything goes wrong and this figures rises to £170,000 for joint savers.

However, if you already have savings with Santander, or one of its other brands such as Cahoot, you will not be covered for £85,000 twice, due to the fact it falls under the same licence.

Santander also has new fixed-rate deals

Alongside the new easy access deal, Santander has also launched new fixed-rate bonds – but these deals are not table toppers.

Its one-year deal offers 3.2 per cent on balances over £25,000, 3 per cent on balances over £5,000 and 2.5 per cent on balances over £500.

This means that the 3.6 per cent fix under its Cahoot brand is better for savers that have over £25,000 to stash away.

Its two-year deal offers savers 3.7 per centon balances over £25,000, 3.4 per cent on balances over £5,000 and 3.2 per cent on balances over £500.

This deal is trumped by BM Savings which has launched a 3.75 per cent dealon balances over £1.

Savers should grab a cash Isa to save tax-free

Those that haven’t filled their cash Isa pot - which allows savers to put away £5,640 until April 5 2012 - can get their hands on some competitive accounts to save tax-free.

There are a range of cash Isas that offer a better rate than the 3.2 per cent easy access Santander offer.